The Master's Son
by Arty Thrip - Alpha 04
Summary: Eduard Hodge smiles when he sees Viranus Donton again. Its been a day but it feels like a lifetime and now they're back together again. Oneshot. Slash


_Author Note: This story is a first for me in many ways. A) it's my first successful oneshot, my last one turned twoshot, threeshot, fourshot etc. b) it's my first slash story, so please tell me what you think of it... I'm usually against slash because of the strange pairings I've seen around this site... c) if I'd posted this a week earlier it would be my first Oblivion story... but hey, it's my first one about the Fighters Guild. I've never seen a story of this pairing even though it's blatantly obvious in Viranus' diary... I suppose because they both die scripted deaths. Anyway, I had the idea for this story while sitting in my geography exam yesterday. Enjoy_

__**Disclaimer: I don't actually own a single one of the characters in this one... Bethesda does.**

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The Master's Son

Eduard Hodge smiles when he sees Viranus Donton again. Its been a day but it feels like a lifetime and now they're back together again. The atmosphere around them is rife with excitement since they both know that the relationship between them can never be discovered by anyone in the Guild.

Viranus is the Master's son and Vilena has mollycoddled him since the day his elder brother died. Viranus doesn't object, he just breaks his mother's rules every now and again in order to live a little.

Their relationship starts just after Viranus' brother is killed on a contract. Vilena goes into mourning and Viranus does the same by often visiting the Chapel in Chorrol and the Guildhall which his brother loved. He is living on a cloud for a long time and he seems like a ghost for longer.

Eduard moves into the Chorrol Guildhall from another for no reason other than to find more interesting contracts shortly before Vitellius' death. He isn't close to Vitellius but mourns with his Guildmates. He isn't close to Viranus either and concentrates on his career.

After Vitellius' death the Dontons confine themselves to their house for a long time. The Guild begin to worry and take turns to travel to the house to check on the Master and her one surviving son. When it's Eduard's turn he takes some bread for the mourning family, because whoever went the previous day told him that they didn't seem to be eating. Eduard forgets who told him but takes the bread anyway.

The house is large and the family is obviously rich but the door is unlocked and an advertisment for thieves. Eduard locks it behind him when he enters. The ground floor is deserted but the Master is in her room upstairs; Eduard offers her bread which she accepts with gratitude but never raises to her lips. He is contented that the food is near to her and stalks off in search of her younger son. Viranus frightens him by asking his name from the top floor while remaining out of sight.

Eduard replies to the Master's son and explains about the bread so Viranus invites him to the top floor. Viranus eats the bread ravenously and explains through a mouthful that his mother expects him to never take another contract lest he end up like his brother. She will return to the Guild after the mourning period is over and then Viranus will have nothing to do but eat and sleep and talk to the contract-less Guildmates.

Eduard feels special that day. Someone finally broke Viranus' silence.

The next day Eduard offers to take bread to the Dontons again. Vilena has not touched the bread from the day before yet, except to break it in half and still leave it on the table. Eduard tries to persuade her to eat something and to return to the Guild, which is at the mercy of Modryn Oreyn without her. She listens attentatively and nods gently, saying she will return after Chapel on Sundas. Then Eduard spends the rest of the day speaking with Viranus and gets accused of shirking his duties by the other Guildmembers and given a warning about staying away from the Guildhall all day. Viranus misses Eduard when Oreyn orders him on a contract the following day.

Eduard returns on Morndas and has been gone for three days; he's been alone the whole time and has done some reflection.

The Master's son is the only person who is glad to see him back. Nobody else really noticed, but Viranus has been alone too because the Guild is stepping on eggshellls around him and his mother. Vilena clearly isn't ready to be back yet and still refuses to eat and Viranus is worried about her. Eduard provides him with at least some distraction. Eduard is still contented to stay friends but they both know that Viranus needs more right now.

Viranus confesses his feelings for Eduard over a bottle of cheap wine while hiding in the Guild storeroom; his mother won't allow him to drink, or to fall in love, but somehow he has managed both. Eduard doesn't like wine and suspects that in the morning Viranus will have no recollection of his recent decisions. As a result he confesses too, but he knows that he will be the one to take the fall if ever they're discovered.

Vilena wants someone to check up on the Guildhall in Skingrad but Oreyn knows that they're too busy to spare any men while competing with the Blackwood Company. Viranus volunteers to his mother and she reluctantly agrees because it needs to be done but tells him that he must choose someone to accompany him there. It's a simple choice really and none that Oreyn is too happy about. There's a new member to the Guild who's moving through the ranks quickly and Oreyn seems to want to arrange for Viranus to go hunting with them at some point to rebuild his confidence.

Viranus would be much more confident if it were Eduard.

On the way to Skingrad Viranus calls Eduard beautiful; he's less skeptical this time because he knows that the Master's son hasn't drunk anything and he finds the experience touching.

While there they know that nothing can happen between them. The people in this Guildhall are subordinates of Viranus' mother and would tell her if anything was going on. They sneak out at night and walk around Skingrad aimlessly until they share their first kiss in a small vinyard just beyond the city walls where nobody can see them. Eduard never meant for this to happen but he knows that he loves Viranus back inwardly, even if the Master's son is better at coping with his feelings. Soon they're spending every night in Skingrad in the vinyard and the whole dynamic between them has changed.

In public there is nothing going on except a close friendship and maybe, if they know they aren't being watched, a longing and fleeting glance. Once, in the storeroom of the Chorrol guild, Oreyn very nearly catches them together and redoubles his effort to set up a contract for Viranus.

The contract comes sooner than either of them had hoped. The new guildmember is an expert with a blade and offers to take Viranus under her wing for a while. When Viranus first meets her he complements her skills and Eduard feels a knot of jealousy in his stomach even though he knows that there can never be any sign that he and the Master's son are together.

Viranus Donton is gone for a single day but returns bruised and battered. The creatures in the cave they were sent to clear were more savage than usual and had easily overpowered a novice like Viranus. He'd slipped unconscious from a blow to the head and woken up while being carried by the exceptionally strong guildmember back to Chorrol. He has to tell his mother where she's been and she orders him to stay in the house until further notice, though Oreyn takes the majority of her fury.

Still Oreyn is not discouraged and continues to search for a worthy contract for Viranus to start back up again with. The Guild is understaffed and losing the battle with the Blackwood Company and Oreyn can't afford to have members doing nothing all day even if they're the Master's son. Eduard fears the day when Oreyn takes over the Guildhall and hopes that it will never happen, but he is prepared to forgo lucrative contracts just to spend time with Viranus who is stuck polishing swords in Chorrol.

Oreyn finds a simple contract for Viranus to do. He knows it won't go wrong this time because he's checked it out himself. When Viranus recovers he orders him to lead some men to Forsaken Mine and clear out a troll infestation. Eduard is on the list of men he must lead and Viranus' heart leaps because it's more time that they can spend together.

The contract is not difficult and the trolls are under control soon enough but it's late at night and Viranus makes the decision to spend the night in the cave and travel back in the morning. He posts the other men as sentries and he and Eduard are left alone. They kiss gently while in the secret provided by the others being away, unaware of the danger closing in on them.

When a man Viranus recognises as a new recruit runs through the wooden door of the cave with a terrified expression on his face, only to fall down dead, both Eduard and Viranus spring to their feet and reach for a weapon. Perhaps they have forgotten a troll or some other creature has found its way through the door. A band of Blackwood Company members come pouring through the door with their swords drawn and a crazed look in their eyes. They make for the hapless pair with ferocity but Eduard jumps forwards and shouts at Viranus to run away.

But Viranus doesn't run.

He's scared for Eduard's life and he's rooted to the spot. He fishes out his journal and scribbles one final note as Eduard is struck down by a blade. Viranus knows that he will be next and he knows that Oreyn will send that new recruit to investigate the mine when they fail to report. He starts to fight bravely but they outnumber him and when he sees Eduard's bloody corpse lying on the ground nearby he throws down his weapon and barely even winces as the Blackwood members run him through with their swords. He doesn't care anymore. Better to die under the pretence of fighting than to survive and live a life alone in the Chorrol Fighters Guild. This was how Vitellius died and exactly how he would have wanted to die.

His body feels numb from pain but his heart aches more violently and he collapses to the floor, bleeding profusely. He hopes he can die next to Eduard but he doesn't have the strength to crawl that far. The Blackwood members are satisfied of their clearing the mine and leave abruptly while Viranus lays on the ground with just enough life left in him to call out Eduard's name. Eduard groans, still alive, and Viranus feels for a second as if he has submitted himself to die in vain like the characters of the stories that his elder brother read to him when he was younger but he knows that Eduard would never recover from a wound like that and he knows that the same now applies to him.

Eduard stares at Viranus with his dark eyes brimming with tears and he finally understands what Viranus has done for him. He sees the sword lying on the ground nearby and can only try to fathom what Viranus must be feeling. He feels the same heart-rending loss but he also feels guilt because Viranus died for his sake only. Viranus could have escaped if he had run.

His breathing grows shallower as he watches Viranus try to crawl across the floor in agony so that they can at least die together. Eduard knows that they will both fall unconscious from blood loss before that happens and maybe even die.

Eduard Hodge knows his time is up and his only comfort is that he will see Viranus again in the Void. Had circumstances been different he would have smiled at the thought but his lips form words which he mouths in Viranus' direction, a final message of love, before his eyes turn skywards and he breathes his final agonising breath.

Viranus never sees Eduard's words through the gloom. He knows he will see Eduard soon, and Vitellius too, so therefore his final thought returns to his mother, Vilena. She is not yet out of mourning for her eldest son and now she loses her youngest. She will not have the comfort of having her children around her in her old age. She will never have grandchildren.

"I'm sorry mother," he whispers quietly.


End file.
